1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to an improved computer system, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for accessing information in a computer system. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for managing information in a computer system using pie charts.
2. Background
Information systems are used for many different purposes. For example, an information system may be used to process payroll to generate paychecks for employees in an organization. Additionally, an information system also may be used by a human resources department to maintain benefits and other records about employees. For example, a human resources department may manage health insurance, wellness plans, and other programs and organizations using an employee information system. As yet another example, an information system may be used to determine when to hire new employees, assign employees to projects, perform reviews for employees, and other suitable operations for the organization. As another example, a research department in the organization may use an information system to store and analyze information to research new products, analyze products, or for other suitable operations.
Currently used information systems include databases. These databases store information about the organization. For example, these databases store information about employees, products, research, product analysis, business plans, and other information about the organization.
Information about the employees may be searched and viewed to perform various operations within an organization. However, this type of information in currently used databases may be cumbersome and difficult to visualize and manipulate. For example, combining information about employees may be desirable for performing operations such as identifying new hires, selecting teams for projects, and other operations in the organization. As a result, errors may occur in the analysis of the information and more time than desired may be needed to obtain desired information or combine information about the employees from a database in an information system.
Spreadsheets may be created to help in the analysis of information about employees. Information from a database may be exported to a spreadsheet, and a user may enter or modify the information in the spreadsheet. Spreadsheets may also be merged to combine information. Using spreadsheets to analyze or combine information may still be more difficult and cumbersome than desired.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that take into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues. For example, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that overcome issues with analyzing or combining information for an organization in a database.